New Tales From the Borderlands: Deluxe Edition

Genre: Compilation / Graphic Adventure / Visual Novel

Players: 1

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Review:

(Note: The contents of this bundle are also included in Borderlands Collection: Pandora’s Box, along with Borderlands: Game of the Year Edition, Borderlands 2, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, and Borderlands 3 Ultimate Edition.)

New Tales From the Borderlands: Deluxe Edition is a Compilation of Tales From the Borderlands and New Tales From the Borderlands, both games that combine Graphic Adventure and Visual Novel elements, blending them together with real-time “quick time” elements much in the same way as other games we’ve seen from Telltale Games, such as The Walking Dead and Batman: The Telltale Series.

Here is what I thought of each of the games in this collection:

Game	Genre	# of Players	Grade
Tales From the Borderlands	Graphic Adventure / Visual Novel	1	B+
tl;dr Tales From the Borderlands is a game that combines Graphic Adventure and Visual Novel elements that tells a tale set after the events of Borderlands 2. The characters, story, voice acting, and presentation here are all outstanding, and the only real issue is the use of tired “quick time events” that frustrate more than they add to the game. However, even with this annoyance, Tales From the Borderland is still an outstanding well-told interactive story that’s highly recommended for fans of sci-fi, and an absolute must for fans of the Borderlands franchise.
New Tales From the Borderlands	Graphic Adventure / Visual Novel	1	C+
tl;dr New Tales From the Borderlands is a game that combines Graphic Adventure and Visual Novel elements that tells a tale set after the events of Borderlands 3. This is a solid sci-fi adventure set in the world of the franchise, but there are a lot more issues this time around, with a slower-paced and less-cohesive plot, less-interesting characters, and some other frustrations. Where the first Tales of the Borderlands game was strong enough that even non-Borderlands fans could enjoy it, this feels like a game that’s really only for the most diehard fans of the series.

In short, I think both of these are solid takes on the Telltale Games formula (even if New Tales isn’t technically a Telltale game) that do a great job of combining that gameplay formula with the Borderlands universe, though Tales is definitely the better of the two, with a better-paced and more-cohesive story that feels better-suited to the Borderlands universe. Oh, and on that note, if you play either of these games, you’ll probably want to have played the mainline Borderlands games first – Tales From the Borderlands directly follows the events of Borderlands 2, and New Tales From the Borderlands directly follows the events of Borderlands 3.

I should note that if you get this bundle via the physical release, only New Tales From the Borderlands is on the cartridge – the first Tales From the Borderlands is included only via digital download code.

Okay, and this now brings me to the question of value. Separately, these two games cost $65 on Nintendo Switch, meaning this bundle’s price tag of $50 saves you a nice $15, which ain’t bad. Granted, the best game in this bundle is the cheaper of the two, with New Tales From the Borderlands only costing $25 on its own, so whether you want to double that price to get its less-great sequel… well, that’s a call you’ll have to make for yourself.

Overall, I think this bundle is a no-brainer for fans of the Borderlands franchise as well as fans of Telltale Games’ Graphic Adventure / Visual Novel games. These games do have their flaws, and how much you get out of the story will depend pretty heavily on how much time you’ve already spent within the Borderlands universe, but overall these games are both well worth playing, and this bundle is a decent enough value to make it worth getting them together.

tl;dr – New Tales From the Borderlands: Deluxe Edition is a Compilation of Tales From the Borderlands and New Tales From the Borderlands, both games that combine Graphic Adventure and Visual Novel elements that tell tales set after the events of Borderlands 2 and 3, respectively. While the first of these two games is definitely the better of the pair, and both games really benefit greatly from the player having completed the associated games, overall this bundle contains a good combination of sci-fi story set in a fascinating world, and it’s a decent enough savings over buying the games separately to make for a decent value. If you’re a fan of the Borderlands franchise and/or Telltale games, this bundle is a good choice.

Grade: B

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